ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION SMARTER CLEANING WITH ROBOTICS Robotic cleaning machines offer many practical advantages from increasing productivity, to improving the consistency of cleaning, with lower maintenance costs from minimal human operator error. Tennant ANZ is ready to lead the way locally with its T7AMR solution that has already sold more than 1000 units in North America and Japan. Robots have a major role to play a role in making work environments safer by reducing accidents and mistakes due to human error. Overnight cleaning crews, for example, can get tired and make errors of judgment or lose focus. This can lead to accidents and damaged equipment, structures, or products. Some of these mistakes can be costly. Robotic cleaning machines, on the other hand, are programmed to be reliable and consistent. Many have built-in safety features that protect against accidents, whether they’re used independently of, or collaboratively with, human workers. Today’s robotic cleaning machines also offer the latest in sustainable cleaning solutions, technologies, and equipment. Tennant’s machines, for example, minimise environmental impact in seven key categories including energy, CO2 emissions, ozone, smog, acid, eutrophication, and particulates. These machines require less water and fewer chemicals - saving money on supplies while reducing downtime, thereby making cleaning crews more productive.
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What about the workers?
routes as the environment changes. In Australia, the T7AMR will be available from the first quarter of 2020, with local support to be provided by Tennant Australia and New Zealand. “We’re winning with [the T7AMR] globally in retail and building service cleaners,” explains Tennant Australia and New Zealand General Manager, Chad Angeli.
Robotic cleaners also offer benefits that can help retain and attract employees. First, robotics can aid employee retention by improving job satisfaction, performance, and overall work quality. The high-tech equipment training involved enhances workers’ skills, which can make them feel more valued and help them become more desirable employees (while expanding their career opportunities). Robotic cleaning machines can also help companies repurpose existing workers. With less time spent doing repetitive tasks, employees have more time to focus on other cleaning tasks that require a human to perform. For companies having trouble filling positions, robotic cleaning machines can help by enabling current employees to accomplish more in less time, allowing fewer workers to accomplish the work of a larger crew. And when it comes to attracting prospective employees, robotics brings a leadingedge perception that’s attractive to those interested in working for a forward-thinking company.
All about the data Data tracking is increasingly important and widespread across business, technology, and life in general – from sales data, to financial data, to GPS data, to health data, and much more. Choosing robotic cleaning machines with data reporting technology gives fleet
managers greater insight into cleaning performance, enabling them to optimise their cleaning performance and track key performance indicators with dashboard reporting and alerts. This can help companies increase efficiency, reduce expenses, maximise operation time, ensure health and safety, make fewer errors, and identify areas for improvement. Last year US-based retail giant Walmart became the first major retailer to introduce Tennant’s robotic solution, the T7AMR, equipped with Brain Corp’s self-driving operating system, BrainOS, to deliver operational efficiency, cleaning performance and customer value. Following the success of the initial partnership, which saw 360 robotic floor cleaners, powered by BrainOS, deployed in Walmart stores, the fleet has increased by an additional 1500 machines. The robots operate collaboratively alongside Walmart associates by using a “teach and repeat” approach that allows associates to easily deploy the machine and adjust cleaning
“The advantage for ANZ is that we have our direct service organisation and customer care centre team for support. We can set it up as Tennant, service as Tennant, connect with BrainCorp and channel back to customers with anything they may need. “We believe having a strong, local direct service and customer care team will give customers a better experience with robotics. They can always deal with us from the initial set up and teaching their machine routes, to after-market support conducted by Tennant, and also representatives to help with getting them the data usage reports. “Robotics is not for all customers, so we need to make sure we continue to invest in a variety of value propositions. However, we know we will have robotics across more machine platforms in the future with an even more advanced technology. “Robotics will continue to be a very important part of our strategy in ANZ and the value proposition we want to deliver for our customers.” Tennant Australia 1800 226 843 au.tennantco.com
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020
